Power Electronics for Advanced Air Mobility: one step closer to take off

Power Electronics for Advanced Air Mobility: one step closer to take off

At our newly launched power electronics test facility in Munich, Germany, our Rolls-Royce Electrical teams are testing the latest technologies for Urban Air Mobility.

Specifically, they’re testing our new modular power converters. These work to control the flow of electricity between the battery and motor of an aircraft. Ensuring that they can withstand the different environmental loads they’re exposed to during flight is a vital part of proving the readiness of these technologies.

We spoke to Hugo Oliveira, Lead Electrical Engineer at Rolls-Royce Electrical, about what these tests and their results mean for the future of electric flight.

Tell us about the tests we’re currently undertaking.

Right now, we’ve just completed testing for something called Technology Readiness Level 4 or TRL4. We have put an inverter demonstrator to test to validate technology design assumptions in our PHIL – “Power Hardware-in-the-Loop” laboratory environment in Munich.

The lab test was carried out with our full inverter demonstrator, following tests with a stand-in prototype or standalone parts in previous steps. The level of readiness applies to the fact that we’ve used pre-industrialisation components and a representative manufacturing process much closer to our end goal.

The inverter we’ve tested has functions and specifications that are in accordance with our modular inverter platform and series product philosophy. We are designing our future inverter product as an integral part of our electric propulsion units for Urban and Regional Air Mobility, as a solution for efficient, reliable and compact electric machine control and fault protection, enabling 100-200 kW power output per module at a voltage level ranging from 500 to 900 V.

Rolls-Royce motor demonstrator for UAM passed to test

What do these tests involve?

To carry out these validations, we tested the inverter with loads derived from the real application. That means currents and temperatures that simulate real-life scenario like take-off, climb, cruising, hovering, and landing, combining them into a full flight mission.

Motor demonstrator for 150 kW electric propulsion unit

What were the results?

The test showed that our power electronics technology being developed with advanced packaging concepts can achieve high levels of performance, enabling high efficiency, low power losses and low weight.

It’s a great achievement and a combined effort from across our global teams. Although the tests were carried out in Munich, some have also been conducted in Singapore with contributions from our colleagues in Hungary, Norway and the UK as well.

Rolls-Royce motor demonstrator for UAM passed to test

What are the next steps?

The next steps are to explore the real limits of the new technology with real operational environments, lifecycle tests and industrialised components. This will enable us to optimise this technology for the individual-specific applications and business areas of Advanced Air Mobility supported by a formal development loop fully compliant with certification requirements.

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